Celebrating Great Journalism - 18 October

Welcome to our weekly round-up of impactful journalism from across our 120+ trusted brands, from national titles like the Mirror, Express, Daily Record and Daily Star, to local brands like MyLondon, BelfastLive and the Manchester Evening News, as well as our US-based brands.

This week’s newsletter is brought to you by Dr Rebecca W. Online Safety Editor.

It’s been a week of doing what we do best - making a difference with campaigning journalism, celebrating our communities and shining a light on the things that matter to our readers and audiences.

But first, a look at some of the team work we see across our titles when breaking news means we need to pull out all the stops.

The death of Alex Salmond

Our Scottish titles swung into action on Saturday with the news that former First Minister Alex Salmond had died in North Macedonia.

The teams across our Scottish sites at GlasgowLive, EdinburghLive and AberdeenLive, and the Record and Scottish Express, produced a constant stream of live rolling content over the weekend. There was expert comment from Daily Record Political Editor Paul Hutcheon, amongst others. The following day's Sunday Mail and Scottish Sunday Express produced unrivalled coverage while the Daily Record went the extra mile on Monday with an eight-page pullout.

Tragic explosion in Newcastle

On Wednesday, the Chronicle team sensitively and thoroughly covered the tragic story of an early-morning explosion on a residential street in the city in which a seven-year-old boy died and nearby homes were evacuated. The team, led by Editor Sophie Barley had Reporter Nicola Goodwin and photographer Iain Buist at the scene and Parenting Reporter Sonia Sharma launching live blog coverage from around 6am that continued throughout the day. 

An unconnected shooting later in the day was carefully covered through another strong team effort by Community Reporter Owen Younger , Audience Editor Gemma Hudson and Writer Craig Connor. 

The death of One Direction’s Liam Payne

On Wednesday night, the breaking story of the death of former One Direction star Liam Payne was thoroughly covered across the network. Coverage included this particularly moving first-person piece in OK! by Weekend Editor Peter Hart , reflecting on the times he met the young star. 

A tribute map by the Data Unit’s Coder Cullen Willis and Designer Marianna Longo allowed readers to share their memories and messages of condolence. Content was amplified by the Content Hub, with Foreign Content Specialist Maria Ortega translating lines from the local Argentinian Spanish speaking press and securing some first lines of coverage for our titles, including the autopsy results.

Campaigning and highlighting homelessness

Elsewhere, the campaigning power of our titles was felt this week with Liverpool Echo’s support for a bid to save a beloved baby hospice in the city. Not only is the Echo backing the cause, but the team will be taking part in a sponsored walk to raise awareness and funds for the cause.

In the capital, homelessness is setting the agenda for MyLondon throughout this month and next, with a series of sensitive interviews shining a light on individual stories behind the growing issue. Stories include an insightful interview with rough sleeper Liam Firlej, the son of Fleetwood Mac founder Peter Green. 

Investigative work has also hit the headlines this week, with  the Mirror’s Real Britain columnist Ros Wynne-Jones publishing her exclusive on a Britain First London Mayoral candidate’s “vile racist” remarks.

In social, this video by YorkshireLive showing police footage of Virgina McCullough’s arrest scored more than 9m views, while the Daily Express’ Finance Editor Harvey Jones took to Instagram to predict what the Labour budget will mean for our bank balances.

Readers driving the conversation

Finally, readers have elevated the conversations on our sites by adding their own opinion in the comment section to topics of community importance - including on this lighthearted piece for the Manchester Evening News spotlighting some of Manchester’s slang words by Senior Reporter Chris Slater and nostalgia writer Jessica Molyneux . 

Reader opinion also contributed to coverage of the much maligned 20mph speed limit in Wales written by Community Editor David Prince. 

Thanks for reading, we’ll be back with more highlights next week.